Walter Evelyn Parke (1891-1914)
Killed after six weeks in France
The story of Walter Parke came to our attention when researching for a schools workshop as part of the Comenius REGIO project in February 2015. Partner schools in Willington, County Durham, and Roisel, in the Somme, are creating online resources to share and develop their understanding of the First World War. When the French students came to Durham the county’s International Officer, Brian Stobie, asked the Record Office to arrange and deliver an activity session for them and their Willington partners. We based part of the session around the ideas of French/English communication and co-operation. While searching through our archive collection we came across the postcard of Parke’s grave being tended by two French girls. This led to the other photographs that can be seen here.
In the picture of the colour party, W E Parke is pictured on the left while Leopold Grantley Norton is on the right of the Colour-Sergeant. In the group photograph, taken 1914, Norton and Parke stand next to each other. Norton was killed exactly a week after Parke.
His brother, John Aubrey Parke, was killed in September 1915 and is buried in Ypres.
http://www.durhamatwar.org.uk/project/somme-partnership-project-at-parkside-academy/
Birth date: 1891-Jul-7
Death date: 1914-Oct-13
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: Moreton Heath, Moreton, Dorset
Education: Winchester College
Organisation membership: 2 Durham Light Infantry
Family: Mother: Evelyn Parke
Father: Lawrence Parke, Lieutenant Colonel 1st DLI
Military service:
Joined Durham Light Infantry as Second Lieutenant on 16 August 1911.
Promoted to Lieutenant on 5 August 1914.
Arrived in France, September 1914
Killed in Hazebrouck while acting as Machine Gun Officer.
Mentioned in dispatches, London Gazette 17 February 1915
Medal(s): 1914 Star
Memorial(s): Buried at Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension
Roll of Honour at St Nicholas of Myra Church, Moreton, Dorset
Gender: Male
Contributed by Durham County Record Office